The history of this word might be old hat to many of you, but, I recently learnt it and we don't seem to have discussed it before, so, here goes....

The word miniature comes from minium, which is red lead. Minium was commonly used as a red pigment in Indian and Persian art in the 13th and 14th centuries (and probably even later). 'Miniature' took root in this art form that specialised in drawing/painting detailed images on a very small scale, primarily because they were used to illustrate books!